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Enemies and Frenemies
'' Enemies and Frenemies ''is the seventh book in the Middle School Experience series. It follows Alex resorting back to pranks when the Popular Sensations begin annoying her again. After a tough and tense fall semester, Alex has vowed to focus on the important things in her life: her family, her friends, and her grades. When her mom announces that she is hosting a charity event, Alex has something new to focus on and promote. Unfortunately, all of the things that Alex had been trying to avoid this new semester come back into her life after her mom invites Clarissa and Marylin’s families to the event, and the two girls taunt Alex for it. After an unlikely frenemy convinces her that Clarissa and Marylin shouldn’t get away with their antics, Alex is torn about whether or not to do the right thing. Will she learn from her mistakes while dealing with her enemies, or will she resort to pulling pranks again? Summary On a Monday morning, Alex notices that her mom hadn't cooked the family breakfast, and Carrie explains that she has been focused on holding a Roaring Twenties-themed charity event that the company she works for, Peach Media is holding later in the month. Carrie is making invitations and asks Alex to give some of the invitations to students at her school, believing that they need to be educated on the cause of the event, which is helping displaced Syrian refugees. She gives Alex a guest list, and Alex is displeased when she sees Clarissa and Marylin's (her nemeses) names on the list. When she protests about it, Carrie tells Alex that she needs to be civil to the Popular Sensations for once, which angers her daughter. On the bus ride to school, Alex rants to Leah and Ellie about her dilemma, and they suggest that she just ask the Popular Sensations if they're interested in attending the event. When they get to school, Alex reluctantly approaches the Popular Sensations, and she is relieved to find out they do not plan on attending, instead rather attending a high school party. Later that day, Alex catches up with Jessie about the event, and the girls rejoice about the fact that Clarissa and Marylin will not be at the event. When class starts, Alex tells Ms. Jaffe about the charity event, and Ms. Jaffe encourages the students to attend the event, both for a learning experience and for extra credit. In the middle of class, Vice-Principal Clayton enters the room and introduces a new student, Matt Farrington. Once Matt gets settled in, the class inquires questions about his background, but he acts dismissive and ignorant towards everyone, leading Alex to believe that he is a douche. After he makes racist and offensive comments about Ms. Jaffe's lesson, Ms. Jaffe kicks him out of the room. After social studies, Alex and Jessie walk to lunch. They meet up with Leah and Chloe in the lunch line, and the girls chat until Chloe accidentally bumps into Matt, who is standing in front of her in the lunch line. After they get their food, Alex and her friends get to know Matt and learn that he is from Los Angeles and his dad is currently pitching a television show that is being filmed in Atlanta, leading Leah and Chloe to swoon. He also acts pretty condescending and dismissive about having to move to Georgia, and when Alex calls him out on his behavior, he retaliates by calling Alex out of her name. Alex, along with Jessie and Ellie (who had joined the group later), decide to walk away, and Alex declares that Matt is not worth her time. The next few weeks are pretty great for Alex, but her life begins to go downhill on the week of Peach Media's charity event, when she overhears Clarissa and Marylin ranting to their friends about being forced to go to the charity event by their parents. This immediately puts Alex in a bad mood, which doesn't improve due to Matt's obnoxious behavior towards her in social studies. In social studies, Ms. Jaffe puts Alex and Matt in the same Socratic seminar group, where the topic is Syrian refugees. Matt makes racist and obnoxious comments throughout the entire seminar, and Alex snaps at him, but she and Matt both get in trouble with Ms. Jaffe. At lunch, Alex rants to her friends about Matt's behavior, and a few of her friends think that Matt is acting out because he secretly likes her, something that Alex shuts down. Alex spots Matt sitting at the Popular Sensations' table and glares at him before accidentally making eye contact with Clarissa. Clarissa and Marylin walk over to Alex's table and rant about being forced to attend the charity event and begin taunting Alex's friends for no reason. After Marylin makes a snipe suggesting that Alex would blow up a building for a prank, Alex pushes her against the wall and tells her that she and her friends deserve bomb throats. However, a teacher overhears Alex's words out-of-context, and she is sent to the vice-principal's office. Alex is sentenced to a week of morning and afternoon detention for the rest of the week for her comments. Alex is sitting in morning detention when Matt walks into the room and decides to sit next to her. Matt explains that he is in detention for another class. When Alex calls him out on his behavior again, Matt explains that he is acting out as a coping mechanism because he feels homesick and is having a hard time making friends at Lakewood. He explains that he doesn't consider the Popular Sensations friends, and Alex tells her about her rivalry with the Popular Sensations, including the time when she slimed them at the Autumn Dance. Matt convinces her to pull a prank at the charity event on Clarissa and Marylin and offers to help. Though Alex is reluctant to, she eventually decides to give in. For the rest of the week, Alex and Matt plan out their prank in the library during lunch; however, when Alex's friends see them together, they think that there's something going on between her and Matt. On the day of the charity event, many people show up, and the event is a huge success. Alex is assigned to be a greeter at the door of the community center (where the event is being held), where she greets Clarissa and her parents and pranks them after they greet her rudely. Alex also meets Matt's parents, who are interesting and friendlier than their son. Alex and Matt secretly talk about their prank, which consisted of giving Clarissa and Marylin chocolate chip cookies mixed with laxatives. After Alex finishes greeting the guests, she goes inside the community center's event room to enjoy the charity event, where her mom introduces her to Amena Yadid, one of the speakers for the event. Alex later runs into Matt, who had successfully pranked Marylin, and the two rejoice in their mischief. Alex decides to go find her friends. Matt wants to hang out with Alex and her friends, but Alex says no. When Matt persists, she tells him to get lost, and he curses at her again. Alex hangs out with her friends until it is time for the speakers to speak at the event. While they are introducing themselves, several people begin to feel ill, including Amena. When Amena gets up from her seat to go to the bathroom, she explodes with diarrhea. Other people at the party begin to have symptoms of diarrhea, and Alex believes that they ate the laxative cookies. She sees Matt smirking, and Matt confirms that he had fed all those people the cookies on purpose. Carrie quickly finds out about their scheme and scolds them, clearly upset that they ruined Peach Media's event. Alex confronts Matt for his actions and when Matt acts smug and dismissive about the situation, Alex slaps him in the face and walks off. As she is leaving, she runs into Clarissa and Marylin, who were affected by the prank, and Clarissa threatens to sue Peach Media and the Sanders family. Because of the prank, Peach Media is made a laughingstock in Duluth. After being scolded by her family, tensions between Alex and her parents are at an all time high, and she is grounded for two months. After social studies class the following Monday, Matt walks up to Alex and tries to talk to her about the situation, but Alex doesn't want to hear it. She spends the rest of the week avoiding Matt as much as possible, but ends up running into him after school. Matt apologizes to Alex for sabotaging the prank and explains that he did it because he was upset that Alex didn't want to be friends with him. He offers to help Alex make the situation right with Peach Media and the speakers. Alex forgives him and decides to give him a chance for him to be her friend. However, Matt ruins the moment by confessing to Alex that he likes her. Shocks, Alex punches him in the nose and runs away. Over the next few weeks, Alex manages to make things right with everyone that she's wronged with the prank. She continues to focus on school and chores, which makes her parents proud and less angry at her. She apologizes to Clarissa and Marylin, but they blow her off. Peach Media, along with Anthony Farrington, decide to hold another charity event for the Syrian refugee cause, this time, Carrie gives Alex the freedom to invite whoever she wants. Matt continues to bother her, but Alex tries her hardest to ignore him. She officially decides to give up pranking for good and just focus on making the rest of her sixth grade year wonderful and memorable. Characters (in order of appearance) * Jerry Sanders * Alex Sanders * Carrie Sanders * Katelyn Sanders * Leah Harrison * Ellie Jackson * Lindsay Shapiro * Clarissa Simpson * Marylin Roberts * Gabby Evans * Mary-Kate Lucas * Jessie Sanchez * Kristina Jaffe * Vice-Principal Clayton * Matt Farrington * Chloe Winters * Gail Edwards * Arabella Wilson * Andrew and Pamela Simpson * Anthony Farrington * Sandra Roberts Trivia * This book was rewritten four times. First edition, 2008. Fourth edition, 2018. * This is the first appearance of Matt Farrington. * In some of the first editions of this story, Jessie helped Alex out with the prank, but in the fourth edition, Matt assisted Alex with the prank. * In some of the first editions, the prank pulled on Clarissa, Marylin, and the Simpsons is very dumb and illogical compared to the prank mentioned in this story. Category:Stories